See also: Rarus

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain.[1] Possibly related to Lithuanian i̇̀rti (“to dissolve, fall into ruin”) and Proto-Slavic *oriti. It has also been compared to Ancient Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “lonely”), but this may be phonetically difficult if certain sound laws involving laryngeals and *r are accepted.

More information
  • Beekes 2010 and Schrijver 1991 assume Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos) must be from a root of the form *h₁reh₁-.[2][3] Schrijver 1991 therefore denies that ἐρῆμος (erêmos) and rārus are cognates, because per Schrijver's sound laws, no gradation of *h₁reh₁- can regularly give rise to Latin rār-: *h₁r̥h₁rós would give Latin *rarus with short -a- (compare ratus from *h₂rh₁tós), whereas *h₁reh₁rós would give Latin *rērus with long -ē-. Schrijver is uncertain whether i̇̀rti and *oriti are cognate with Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos) or with Latin rārus: in the latter case, Schrijver assumes Latin rā- came from *Hreh₂-, with schwebeablaut. Beekes treats derivation of rārus from zero-grade *h₁r̥h₁-ro- as possible, without explicitly addressing Schrijver's argument that this should be expected to yield *rar-.
  • Woodhouse 2011 postulates different sound laws, assuming that Greek initial ἐρ- (er-) can come either from PIE *h₁r- or PIE *r- and that PIE *rHC- became Latin ra- with short -a-, whereas PIE *HrHC- became Latin rā- with long -ā-. Based on these assumptions, Woodhouse derives ratus from a root starting with *r- (instead of *h₁r as postulated by Schrijver) and assumes that Latin rārus might show rā- as the regular outcome of earlier *h₂rH-, from the zero-grade of a root *h₂erH- shared with i̇̀rti.[4] De Vaan 2008 mentions *h₂erH- (“to disappear, perish”) as a possible root of rārus but dismisses it as semantically unlikely.[1]

Pronunciation

Adjective

rārus (feminine rāra, neuter rārum, comparative rārior, superlative rārissimus or rārissumus, adverb rārō or rārē or rārenter or rāriter); first/second-declension adjective

  1. scattered; far apart
  2. seldom; few
  3. rare; uncommon
  4. thin; loose

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
nominative rārus rāra rārum rārī rārae rāra
genitive rārī rārae rārī rārōrum rārārum rārōrum
dative rārō rārae rārō rārīs
accusative rārum rāram rārum rārōs rārās rāra
ablative rārō rārā rārō rārīs
vocative rāre rāra rārum rārī rārae rāra

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “rārus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 514
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ἐρῆμος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 456-457
  3. ^ Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1991), The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 2), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 17
  4. ^ Woodhouse, Robert (2011), “Lubotsky's and Beekes' laws, PIE *(H)r-, *(H)i(V)-, *a and some other laryngeal matters”, in Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia‎[1], volume 16, pages 158-159

Further reading

  • “rarus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “rarus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “rarus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • preparations for war; war-material: apparatus (rare in plur.) belli
    • in open order: raris ordinibus
    • to fight in skirmishing order: rari dispersique pugnare (B. C. 1. 44)
  • “rarus”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎[3]
  • De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 514
source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rarus